Porsche 356 Carrera GTL Abarth
The Porsche 356 Carrera GTL Abarth, also known as the Porsche Carrera Abarth, was a racing version of the Porsche 356 was built for the racing season 1960. In those years, the Porsche accumulated numerous class victories with its racing cars in the central engine, but decided to try his hand in class GT. One of the biggest problems was that the last road-going version of the 356 was considerably heavier than the previous version: the German company then decided to turn to some company that had more experience in the field of lightening. Point of reference was the Italy, where several manufacturers of racing cars and body builders have had many successes in turning the road cars into featherweights capable of winning races. In September 1959 Porsche joined to the old family friend Carlo Abarth in order to achieve 20 racing cars based on the 356B for the 1961 season, with an option for another 20 units. Details of the transaction were very simple: Porsche would provide the chassis 356B Abarth which in turn would set up with a body designed and built in Italy. It should be noted that the presence of a body did not create completely different certification problems of the car, as the rules of the International Federation called it "car" all chassis-engine. The regulation does not put restrictions on the body, as long as it had not exceeded the value of the minimum weight: Abarth exploited this flaw in the regulation. Although it was not specified in the contract, the Italian coach had assured him that the Porsche Zagato (the author of many successful GT) would have made the bodies, but he had failed to mention in the meeting of September 1959 which was actually interrupting his relationship with Zagato and therefore for the Porsche project the task was given to Franco Scaglione, a former designer of Bertone, who was considered an expert in aerodynamics because he had designed the futuristic concept car Alfa Romeo BAT. His design for the Porsche-Abarth was quite unusual in that it combined a long, low snout with a very short tail and rounded. Abarth commissioned expert Turin coachbuilder Rocco Motto of the construction of the aluminum bodies. Rear View The Porsche gave the latest version of the Abarth 356. The basic design of the frame was still very similar to the original introduced a decade earlier. Most of the development work was directed to the motor plate to four cylinders. The chassis delivered to the Abarth, as the latest Carrera, the engine was equipped with four overhead camshafts with a displacement of just under 1.6 liters. Derived from racing engines with dry sump and air-cooled, producing 115 hp. In the years following the debut of the cars were equipped with engines of 1.6 liters and equipped with exhaust driven more "open", with a power of 128 hp and 135 hp and later 2.0-liter engine with a power of 155 hp and 180 hp. While the suspensions were all independent wheel braking system for the Porsche still relied to hydraulic drum brakes, although already the third race car prototype in writing by the official team at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1960 were installed brakes disk test. When mounting the bodywork on the chassis there were various problems that slowed production, so that after the first three models built from the remaining Motto were made to build the "Viarengo & Filipponi" Abarth and could not meet the deadline of March 1960. Moreover The Germans complained about the quality of the prototype, which was seeping from every window, and habitability narrow even for the usual Italian standards. Scaglione had drawn a lower roof of more than 12 cm compared to the standard model and the riders taller than 1.80 m had difficulty to sit in the car. But what really mattered was how the Porsche Abarth-behaved on the track as required by the Italian 356B was lighter (saving total weight was about 50 kg) and had less drag than its German counterpart. The new racing car was officially named 356B GTL, namely Gran Turismo Light. Sport results The pilot Herbert Linge and Paul-Ernst Strahle took the prototype car to debut during the Targa Florio in 1960 and immediately got the class win and sixth place overall. It was the beginning of a highly successful sporting career, which saw the Porsche-Abarth dominate his class for several years. At the next race of the World Championship sports cars, the 1000 km Nürburgring, the 356B GTL defeated opponents in his class. The Porsche Abarth would go on to win his class in the Targa Florio three more times (the last in 1963 ), at Le Mans for three consecutive years from 1960 to 1962 and again repeating the 1,000 km Nürburgring in 1961, '62 and '63. The epilogue Despite the successes of the car on the track and the subsequent improvements in the quality of the specimens, the Porsche was unhappy and canceled the contract after the construction of the first twenty cars. Although the collaboration between Abarth and Porsche was over, the team continued to rack up victories German officer with the racing cars of "lower quality". Attempts to build light and streamlined bodywork in Germany all failed and it was only when the Porsche launched the most advanced projects in the central engine as the GTS 904 that the performance of the Porsche-Abarth were equaled. To deal with the Porsche Abarth proved to be quite successful, but later Abarth must have watched the operation with regret. Beyond the project 356B, he actually plans to expand its range with the Porsche-powered models, but after the Germans had cut all ties, plans were also shelved. There have been conflicting reports on how many copies were built before production ended Porsche. Today, it is common opinion that they were built with a total of 21 shells and one of these was used to repair a car that crashed. Category:Porsche